Distance Totals

Monday, December 30, 2013

Back in December 2012 I had to
sit out CIM, having been hit by a still undiagnosed left thigh ailment just 3
weeks before the race. Decided to get my revenge this year, I signed up early for
CIM. Following the Kona Marathon in June, I took a
couple of weeks break from structured training, and restarted mid July to
build a base, focusing on hills. By mid september I was hitting good mileage
and saw my fitness improving. Unfortunately this period of great training came
to a grinding halt early October. A week prior to a 10k I started to feel some
stiffness on the top and side of my left thigh. I ran the 10k, which went OK
considering the circumstances, but a couple of days later when I stepped out of
the door for my morning run, I felt excruciating pain on the left thigh at the first running step.
The same issue that sidelined me before CIM 2012 was back with a vengeance.

Although this was still far out
from the race, I knew right away that I would be out at CIM, and started to feel that I was cursed on this race, vowing to never sign up for it again. Last year,
it took me over 2 months after the onset of injury to get back to running pedestrian
paces without pain, so I didn't think I would recover quickly enough. I spent
the first week spinning and testing the legs every other day without success. I
then remembered that a gym nearby had an AlterG antigravity treadmill available
and I decided to give it a shot, thinking that this would do a better job at
maintaining my fitness than spinning or deep water running. After a 30 minutes tryout I
decided to buy 10 hours on the machine, and once I burned through these in less
than 10 days, I bought unlimited access for a month.

Even if my left thigh was aching just
walking, I was able to 'run' on the AlterG and do some
hard quality workouts with minimal discomfort, and these workouts were equivalent in time of what I would have done on the
road.

I kept trying to run on the road a couple of times a week on Wednesdays and
Fridays, but these were usually slow and painful. Interestingly, the leg was hurting more at slower paces (>8:30 min/mi) than at more moderate ones. For the Saturday long runs,
after a couple of sessions doing 1h45 straight on the AlterG, I decided to mix
it up and run 6 to 10 miles on road, followed immediately by 1hr to 1h30 on the
machine. The first half of these runs were very tedious, barely hitting 8:30
pace but the finish on the AlterG brough some relief and thi allowed me to regularly run between 2h15 and 3h on Saturday mornings. I ramped up the body weight percentage
every week, starting from 75% mid October and working my way up to 95% mid November. Overall I logged 39
hours on the AlterG between mid October and early December.

During that time, I finally figured
out that I was suffering from quadriceps trigger points. Rather than being an
IT band issue as originally suggested, trigger points in the Vastus
lateralis and Vastus intermedius. These trigger points were generating painful diffuse spots on the
top and side of my left thigh, and limited the range of motion of my left leg, which messed up my running mechanics. I treated these with the help of acupuncture sessions and by rolling on a
hard ball, which generated some excruciating pain when I hit the trigger
points. I also started structural integration (Rolfing) to try and fix some structural issues that might have been responsible of these issues.

Things were evolving slowly and I
looked for a backup race. I wanted to run something before the end of the year, but only 2 races were far enough in time from CIM, Jacksonville
and the 3 Bridges Marathon in Little Rock, Arkansas. I chose 3B, only to learn that the
race was sold out. I still put myself on the waiting list, thinking that I
could always sign up for Jacksonville if needed. After a couple of weeks of
email exchanges with the very friendly RD Jacob, he took pity of me and upgraded me from
the waiting list, so I was officially in.

By late November I started to see
good signs of improvement. I was no longer in pain while walking,
and some runs felt almost normal towards, even if the mechanics were still a bit off. I managed to run 19M on road
on Nov 30th, with the last 8 at marathon pace - although slower than I wanted, and did 22.6M outside on Dec 7, the day before CIM took place. I did another fast finish long run of 19M with the last 9 at 6:49 avg pace a week later. I was
encouraged by these signs of progress and finally booked my plane ticket to Little Rock. I had 3 weeks of training mostly on road before a 2-week taper and the race, with some solid workouts (a 4M tempo run at 6:14 avg; 3x3M MP intervals at 6:49 avg; and 4x1M intervals at 6:08 avg) and was glad I could
step the start line healthy, even if the training had been non-traditional. My pace for MP heart rate (164) was between 6:48 and 6:52 which made me think that I was ready for a sub-3 attempt.

Pre-Race

I flew to Little Rock on Thursday, and woke up
early Friday morning to do my 20 minutes shakeout run on the paved trail where the race took place. I
drove to the site of the start of the race and ran all the way to the Big
Dam Bridge, the first bridge that we had to cross during the race. I stopped there to do some drills, take pictures and then ran back to the parking
lot near the start/finish. It was bitterly cold for someone living in SoCal (~31F), with tears dropping from my eyes and my
fingers getting numb. Despite the cold conditions the run felt good, the legs were zippy and I felt ready to race.

Selfie in front of the Big dam bridge, in the middle of my shakeout run the day before the race.

After showering and resting a bit
in my room I picked up my bib and shirt at Rock City Running, a local
running store owned by Bill Torrey, a famous Arkansas runner, who also certified the 3B marathon course. I chatted with him for a while about the course,
the organizer and RD, and about his trips to California with his wife. I wanted to get a running
souvenir from the store, and when I told him I would rather get a short
sleeve/singlet which were not in display, he disappeared in the back of the store and came back with a
couple of singlets. When I asked him about the price of one of those, he told me that it was
free for me. I was blown away by his generosity, and bought a pair of socks to support
the store.

With Bill Torrey at the packet pick-up where they inflated the finish line gate in front of the store.

After lunch I chilled in my
room and didn't do much for the remainder of the day to rest my legs. I didn't sleep
well, with frequent interrupted sleep and recurrent dreams of not being able to hit my pace, but woke up before the alarm went off
at 4:45. After a quick breakfast, coffee and shower, I foam rolled, did some active isolated stretching and drove my car to the parking lot about a mile from the start. From there I
was picked up by a shuttle which dropped me to the start. It was cold down
there (35F), but it did not feel as cold as the day before. The sound system was
blasting some old classic rock songs, which made me feel good and pumped up for the race. 20 minutes before the
start I removed my warm-up pants and jacket, but kept my $1 Goodwill fleece to do
my warm-up drills. I finished the drills about 3 minutes before the start,
removed the fleece and lined up at the front.

The race

We started at 7:00
sharp. A group of 6-8 runners was leading, with one guy - the eventual winner - way ahead. I tried
to focus on hitting close to 6:50 pace, which felt easy during the first mile. Once that mile was in the book, things started to get harder. We did the first crossing of the
Big Dam Bridge during the second mile. I tried to hit a pace close to 6:50 without overexerting myself, but the uphill got me and I slowed down, despite a relatively
high heart rate. That's where the lead pack dropped me and I started to run
alone. After going down the bridge the legs did not feel good and I was feeling my shins, which never
happened to me in training.

Around Mile1, after crossing the small wooden bridge that leads to the Big Dam bridge. The lead pack has already passed, I am on the right with the red shirt/white singlet.

After crossing that first bridge we entered the
bike/pedestrian trail, where I tried to focus on hitting the tangents. This turned out to be an exercise in concentration because the
path was very curvy. During M3 and M4 I started to feel lousy
and saw my pace slowing above 7:00 pace. In addition, there were now a few
seconds difference between the markers and my GPS, which made me feel worse. So I pushed the lap button a second
time after hitting each official marker to get an idea of the difference between
GPS pace and official pace. I knew right then that sub-3 was out of the picture,
but was thinking that I might be able to finish strong, as this happened to me at previous races. An older runner with a yellow singlet (visible on the picture above) passed me
around M3. At that point I threw away my fleece beanie from the 99c
store, which made me feel slightly better as my head felt cooler.

After a few miles in the park
area, the trail hit North Little Rock with a bit more of an urban/industrial
feel. I kept plugging but the legs did not feel good and the breathing was labored. Around M8, a runner with mexican music
blasting off his earphones passed me. I kept contact with him, and at M10 we
reached the Clinton Pedestrian bridge. This was a tough mile, as we had to cross
the bridge, turn around at the bottom - but not before doing a weird turn
around in front of the Clinton Presidential Library, and cross the bridge back.
That's where I caught up with Mexican music guy and dropped him for good. M12 after the bridge felt easier
and was the second and last one below 7:00 pace.

Clinton Bridge

Going around the roundabout before getting back to the Clinton bridge

After the turnaround, it became
harder to negotiate the tangents because slower runners were now coming from the
opposite direction. However a few miles after, the path got less crowded so getting
the right trajectories got easier. I was making peace with the fact that this wasn't my
day and that I should be accepting running anything between 7:00-7:15 pace. I
crossed the half point in 1:33:35, and was hopeful that with a strong finish
and a negative split I might be able to run under 3:05. Unfortunately this did
not happen. Miles were clicking, and keeping pace was just not getting easier,
with heavy legs and the breathing labored, despite a heart rate
that was dropping a good 10 beats below normal marathon pace heart rate. I was
running mostly alone, except sometimes passing early starters or other users of
the trail.

I crossed the Big Dam Bridge again and was in position to pass older guy
with yellow singlet who had passed me at M3 and who was now slowing down. I had seen him in front of me
for a few miles from far away, but I closed on him and picked him up between
the two bridges. We briefly exchanged words of encouragement.

Section between the Big Dam Bridge and the Start/Finish, going towards the finish. The 8 mile marker does not correspond to any mile of the course.

Right before crossing the 3rd
bridge, we had to pass the start/finish area. This was psychologically hard,
knowing that there were still 7+ miles to go. The thought of dropping out of the race there
briefly came to my mind, since I was nowhere near being able to PR, and I was
quite convinced at this point that the end of the race would not get easier.
However I remembered the story of Meb finishing the NYC Marathon this year
despite having a lousy race, and I decided to finish regardless of how painful this would get.

The last bridge (two rivers bridge) which we had to cross twice, at Mile 20 and Mile 26

I crossed the two
rivers bridge and entered a forested park area. I was passing some runners,
but most of them were early starters. The run became a grind, and the pace was getting slightly
slower with each mile. We came out of the forested area towards open fields,
and between miles 22 and 24 I picked up two other runners who were in the lead
pack at M1 and had clearly overestimated their pace. One of them finished 5 minutes behind me, clearly blowing out after I passed him. At that point
I was just telling myself to go for just one more mile. After M24 the idea of a strong finish
went out the window, and I thought for a brief moment what the heck, I should
just drop below 8:00 pace since there was not much left to be gained at this
point. I passed an early starter who told me that I was the 6th runner to pass
him, so although no one was in sight to pick me up, I just tried to maintain
something near 7:20-7:30. Some runners coming in the other direction were
encouraging me "looking good" but at that point I just wanted to be
done. A woman at an aid station yelled at me at M25, probably trying to be
encouraging, but this was mostly a nuisance

I crossed back the two rivers bridge at M26 without much of a finishing kick,
just looking at my Garmin to try and finish under 3:10. I leaped over the finish line, since I had no
ambition of trying to squeeze any extra second, and was just glad to be done. I
saw Jeff Necessary who was helping at the finish, got some drink and food, and
hung around the finish until I got my 1st Masters plaque award.

With Jacob, the race director who was kind enough to take me from the wait list and answer all my emails

Splits:

-->

Interval

Distance

Time

Avg HR

Max HR

Note

1

1 mi

06:53.0

164

173

2

1 mi

07:03.9

174

184

Bridge

3

1 mi

07:05.0

165

169

4

1 mi

07:11.2

163

165

5

1 mi

07:19.1

162

165

6

1 mi

07:13.3

161

165

7

1 mi

07:09.3

161

164

8

1 mi

07:09.5

163

167

9

1 mi

07:05.5

160

163

10

1 mi

07:17.7

163

166

2xBridge

11

1 mi

06:56.0

161

163

12

1 mi

07:18.2

159

163

13

1 mi

07:06.8

157

159

14

1 mi

07:11.1

156

160

15

1 mi

07:13.9

156

160

16

1 mi

07:19.9

155

159

17

1 mi

07:16.1

155

158

18

1 mi

07:20.4

159

164

Bridge

19

1 mi

07:08.6

157

159

20

1 mi

07:11.4

156

159

Bridge

21

1 mi

07:21.2

154

158

22

1 mi

07:23.4

154

157

23

1 mi

07:18.9

155

158

24

1 mi

07:29.0

154

156

25

1 mi

07:25.9

153

155

26

1 mi

07:34.0

155

159

27

0.24 mi

01:33.0

158

161

Bridge

Epilogue:

I finished 6th overall, 4th male
and 1st masters out of 366 runners in 3:09:36 with a 3 minutes positive split.
I am glad I did not pick Jacksonville as they had temperatures in the
70's with high humidity and pouring rain, which would have made my race
even more miserable. Objectively I should be happy with this race given that I was unable to run on the road without pain from early October until late November. However this was one of the most disappointing and laborious marathons I have ever run. The time
wasn't what I wanted, probably because I overestimated my marathon-specific fitness due to the lack of road running. Although I maintained excellent cardio training on the
AlterG, the leg conditioning just wasn't there. I may have overexerted myself on the second mile, but I am not sure the HR data is accurate and I don't think it explains the overall performance. The most
frustrating part was how bad I felt during almost the entire race, and why running at a HR 10 beats lower than MP HR felt so difficult in the second half. I
just could not find a rhythm and never felt in a groove. The slow fade towards the
end was certainly due to my subpar training, but that doesn't explain why I
felt lousy almost from the start. I am glad I ran this race because it brings a
closure to 2013 and to my Fall season hampered by injury, and also because I
now have a Boston qualifier-10 minutes for 2015. But I will be looking for
answers as of why this race went so wrong from the get go.

Monday, July 1, 2013

I decided to run the Kona Marathon back in March after
having made plans for my summer vacation on the Big Island. After my goal race
for the first part of the year (OC Marathon on May 5th), I knew that I would have a hectic travel
schedule before that vacation. So instead of trying to train specifically for another event later and being interrupted by travel and vacation, I decided to run Kona just 7 weeks after OC. I spent a couple of weeks recovering
from the OC race (first one with no running), then went into maintenance mode with no run longer than 13M and a "peak" week of 53M before a 10-day taper. During that time I had two long business trips (9 days in France,
then 4 days in California, and then 6 days on the East Coast) so it was difficult to train consistently but I managed to get some solid weeks. However, I
got sick twice between the two races, including a mild form of stomach flu
10 days before Kona. So I did not feel at my best. Despite this, I ran a good
trail race 2 weeks before Kona, the Valley Crest Half Marathon, which gave me
confidence that I was still in relatively good shape.

I arrived in Kona 5 days before the race and ran 3 times
there. I immediately felt the effect of the heat with my heart rate
creeping 10-15 bpm higher than normal for a given easy pace. Based on this, I gave up
on any specific goal time and decided to pace myself by heart rate, since I
knew that my marathon pace heart rate was around 165 bpm. I took electrolyte
pills several days before the race to help my body get used to the heat, and
followed my usual carb loading regimen of complementing my normal diet with 2-3
bottles of carbo force the 2 days before the race. However I deviated from my
normal routine by having sushi the night before.

Carbo loading, Dan Sontheimer's style

I checked in a hotel across the start line the night before the race and had a
decent night of sleep . The race was supposed to start at 5:30AM, but there was
a 15min delay at the start. Not a big deal usually, but when you know how hot
it can get later in the day, it could make a difference. Apparently this was
due to problems with shuttles that transported runners from the Sheraton resort
(the finish) to the start, which never showed up. I did not do any warm-up but
had a Gatorade prime pouch and a water bottle with me. I drank the Gatorade
5min before the start and doused my Zoot cooling sleeves with the water just
before starting, and felt the cooling effect of the sleeves immediately.

Start Line at dawn - Photo courtesy Takashi Ohashi

At 5:45AM we were off
and running. I was right at the front but many people sprinted the downhill.
Despite the lack of warm-up I immediately settled into a good rhythm, which
corresponded to a HR of 164-166, right on target. The first 3 miles on Ali'i
drive were flat, with the exception of the steep descent after the start. I
talked to a runner that I saw the day before at a Pho restaurant, who turned
out to be from Japan. We talked a bit and then switched positions back and forth,
before he dropped me around M4. I made a point to run the tangents very
tightly, and started to douse myself (head and cooling sleeves) with water at
every aid station. After M3, there were a few rollers on Ali'i drive which
slowed me a bit, as I tried to keep my HR under 167. Around M4, I decided to
take away my visor, as I felt that I did not need it given the cloud cover and that it kept my head warmer.

Elevation Profile. Note the steep short hill at the start and at M25

At that point I was in last position in a group of a dozen runners, many
of them Japanese. I looked back, and there was no one behind me. The heat
really did not bother me since I felt the cooling
effect of the regular showers at the aid stations and of the slight winds. There
were few to no spectators, just cars coming on the other lane on Ali'i drive and a few
early walkers.

On Alii Dr, on the way out, still feeling fresh

After M5 we left Ali'i drive and ran in a commercial park before getting into
the Queen Kaahumanu highway (~M7). I got passed by a couple of male
runners, one of which I passed back a couple of miles later. I did not try to stay with them, but rather stuck to my strategy of constant effort and
consistent heart rate.

The miles on Queen K highway felt really good. There was
some cloud cover, so it did not feel too hot. I started to slowly pass some
runners, and the inclines on the Highway were not bad. We had to run on
the shoulder of the road, which was marked by cones and made running the
tangents sometimes hazardous as it meant running pretty close to traffic. What
was weird is that my heart rate dropped around 162-163; however it felt
difficult to accelerate to maintain a higher HR, so I stuck to a pace that felt
comfortable.

The turn around was at M12.5. This gave me the occasion to
try and see how many runners were ahead of me, but I lost count. I sent
shout outs to the leaders, including the first overall (Allen Wagner), whom I met a few days
before at the Big Island company, and the first female. After the turnaround, I
looked at my GPS, which showed 1:37:45 for 13.1M. I thought I
could go under 3:15 which meant running slightly faster in the 2nd half. After
the half I caught up with a female runner and talked to her for a couple of minutes. She
said she was the 2nd female last year but was now in 5th place, aiming for 3:15
after running 3:25 last year. I dropped her in a downhill and kept
working, slowly passing other runners one by one. After the turnaround I had to "fight" slower runners coming in the opposite direction, as we were competing for supplies at the aid stations, and also for the optimal tangent trajectory.

Thing started to feel harder around M16-17. I wasn't hitting
the wall but it just felt that maintaining the pace required more effort. In
addition, walking the aid stations felt awkward as I was feeling my calves when
walking, as if they would start to cramp without notice. What was encouraging
is that my GPS was beeping regularly only 10-15s before the mile splits, and the gap between GPS and mile markers did not increase, which
told me that I was running the tangents well.

At M18 one of the 2 guys who had passed me before passed me again while
coming out of a port-a-john. He stayed in front of me for several miles then
accelerated and I never saw him again. This is the only runner that passed me after
M8. In these later miles, I passed an older japanese woman who seemed to be
working hard. She passed me again on a downhill in the commercial park area, but I dropped her for
good before the M19 split. She ended up finishing 6min behind me, so she really slowed down a lot towards the end.

After M19 we were back to Ali'i drive where things felt more difficult and the
race became a steady grind. The heat was more oppressive there with less cloud cover, and it felt more humid. Also the short rollers on Ali'i made maintaining the pace
harder.Some of the aid stations
were offering ice cubes, and I took these whenever possible to put them inside my shirt.
This made a refreshing ice melt on my belly and in my back and helped coold
down, adding to the effect of dousing myself with water. I felt like I could have pushed
harder, but I was afraid of doing it too soon and then blowing up one or two
miles from the finish because of the heat. Since there was no PR to expect and I was already qualified for Boston, I was content to keep
my pace in the high 7:20s-low 7:30s to maintain a 7:28 avg and try and run an even split race. I could feel the beginning of a blister on my right foot, probably because my two shoes were completely wet after the regular water showers. I took
my last gel at M21, hoping that it would give me a last boost of energy to
finish strong. Despite the later time (~8AM) there were still not much spectators on
Ali'i drive.

Rare crowd support on Ali'i drive - Photo courtesy Takashi Ohashi

On Ali'i I caught up with many slow half marathon runners, who had started half an hour
later, and had turned around at the end of Ali'i. However the road was wide
enough that this was not a problem (and most of them were not taking the tangents anyway). From there to the finish I also reeled in
several full marathon runners, who fell victim of a poor pacing strategy in
the early miles and were severely hurting or walking. This did not give me too
much boost, as I was also starting to struggle despite maintaining regular splits.

Coming back on Ali'i Dr (~M20), note the all-wet look because of the repeated showers

M25 was a killer; I had maintained 7:30 pace throughout that
mile, but towards the end we reached the steep hill that we had descended right
after the start, and that we had to climb up again before getting to the Sheraton
for the finish The hill was not long, but at that point of the race, it made my
pace drop to 7:54 for that mile. Everyone that I passed on that hill was walking it.

The last mile was one of the most bizarre I have ever run
for a road marathon. First, there was a ~0.5M long cross-country section on
a dirt/gravel trail with rocks, which was really not something I wanted to deal with at
that point of the race after having run 25M. Then they made us run through a
tortuous path and the lawn of the Sheraton resort.

M26 in the Sheraton resort, passing half-marathoners

The worst part is that we had to go through a hallway INSIDE
the hotel (yes you read that correctly), and climb down 3 steps of stairs
before more lawn action to the finish. This felt like one of these dreams where
you have to run inside buildings and staircases...I remember clearly yelling "WTF???"
to a runner I was passing while climbing down the steps... Whoever designed that course clearly had never run a marathon
before!

I kicked in to the finish but because of that bizarre ending
I had no will to really sprint, especially since all the runners I was
passing were slow half-marathon runners. I made it home in 3:15:33. I was
really glad to find my wife and kids at the finish as I wasn't sure that they
would be there to greet me.

The splits were almost even at 1:37:45/1:37:48. These numbers actually reflect a small negative split given that I looked at my half split at 13.1 on the GPS, and
registered 26.25 at the finish. That time was good for a BQ with almost 10 minutes
to spare, 13th place overall of 343 runners, and 3rd place in my age group. That's
when I kicked myself for not having pushed harder in these middle miles and at the finish, as I
realized that the 2nd place in my AG only finished 13s ahead of me. (turns out he was Takashi Ohashi, the Japanese runner I talked with during
the early miles). However I could not see how close he was because of the tortuous finish; and as a 3rd place
finisher I only got a lousy plastic bottle, while 1st and 2nd got very nice plaques. This
will teach me a lesson!

With Takashi Ohashi, who took 2nd place in the AG just 13s ahead of me.

Despite this I was very happy with my race, even if the finishing time was 15 min slower than my personal best. Heart rate-based
pacing was clearly the best strategy for me that day, since it allowed me
to finish strong with almost even pacing, and close the first half of my 2013
racing season on a positive note.

At the awards ceremony, I even look tall on that picture !

Temperatures in Kailua-Kona (Start: 5:45AM - Finish 9AM):

Time Temp Dewpoint Wind

5:53 AM 75.9 °F64.0 °FESE 5.8 mph

6:53 AM 77.0 °F63.0 °FNNE 5.8 mph

7:53 AM 80.1 °F 63.0 °F Calm

8:53 AM 82.0 °F 63.0 °F SW 3.5 mph
-

9:53 AM 82.0 °F66.0 °F SSW 9.2 mph

Splits:

Interval

Distance

Time

Pace

Average HR

Max HR

1

0.99 mi

07:11.8

7:17

160

167

2

1 mi

07:22.6

7:23

165

178

3

1 mi

07:29.2

7:30

164

167

4

1 mi

07:33.7

7:34

166

169

5

1 mi

07:28.7

7:29

166

169

6

1 mi

07:34.1

7:35

166

172

7

1 mi

07:36.0

7:37

166

169

8

1 mi

07:31.5

7:32

165

175

9

1 mi

07:23.9

7:24

163

166

10

1 mi

07:31.9

7:32

164

167

11

1 mi

07:21.4

7:22

162

165

12

1 mi

07:26.9

7:27

164

167

13

1 mi

07:18.7

7:19

164

168

14

1 mi

07:19.3

7:20

164

170

15

1 mi

07:25.5

7:26

164

180

16

1 mi

07:13.4

7:14

162

164

17

1 mi

07:31.3

7:32

163

178

18

1 mi

07:16.9

7:17

162

165

19

1 mi

07:20.2

7:21

162

165

20

1 mi

07:30.5

7:31

164

179

21

1 mi

07:37.2

7:38

165

173

22

1 mi

07:28.3

7:29

163

168

23

1 mi

07:28.5

7:29

164

167

24

1 mi

07:30.4

7:31

165

171

25

1 mi

07:54.4

7:55

167

176

26

1 mi

07:17.1

7:18

170

174

27

0.26 mi

01:52.7

7:14

174

177

Notes:

• M1 was not on autosplit, I pressed the button at the
M1 marker, which explains the 0.99M distance and the time/pace discrepancy.

• For the max HR, some high values in the early/middle miles
are due to the HR monitor malfunction when I doused myself with water.